APPENDIX F. 



E. LUCAS ON DRYING FRUITS. 



General Rules. — The Drying-room. — Drying in Ovens. — In heated Rooms. — In the 

 Air and Sun. — Drying Quinces, Plums, and Cherries. — Expenses of Fruit-drying 

 in Germany. — Apples and Prunes. 



General Rules. 



The following may serve as common rules for drying of fruit : 



1. All fruit required for drying must have attained its full de- 

 velopment and ripeness to produce a good article. Stunted, un- 

 developed, as well as stained fruit, is unfit for this purpose. 



2. Over-ripe fruit is not adapted for drying. An exception are 

 few varieties of hard, fleshy pears. 



8. Worm-eaten fruit must not be taken. If prunes and plums 

 remain long on the tree, the worm-eaten fruit will fall off, and the 

 gathering will be a choice quality. 



4. Sour, as well as pure, sweet kernel fruit produce a poorer 

 dried article than such in which sugar and acid are contained in a 

 balanced proportion. 



5. All apples intended to be dried should be peeled and freed 

 of the core, for these will not become mellow if boiled. Pears 

 make an exception in this regard, for which reason they are often 

 dried, not being peeled nor the core taken out. 



6. Small and middle-sized apples may be peeled and freed from 

 the core, and then dried whole. Large apples are best to be cut 

 in four or six pieces. 



7. If peeled fruit is brought immediately into the heated dry- 

 ing-room, it will preserve a fine pale color. 



8. Plums should only be taken for drying when fully or over- 

 ripe. 



9. Kernel-fruit drying requires, in the beginning, a temperature 

 of from 60° to 80° E. ; afterward from 40° to 50° E. will answer 

 well. 



Fruits which can boil in their steam, if only for a short time, 

 will dry better, and will be more sweet and palatable than that 

 which is not steamed. When it is observed that the fruit is 

 steamed, the operation should be continued at a more moderate 

 temperature. 



10. If fruit is dried very slowly, and at a continual low temper- 

 ature of heat, it will be sour. Apples intended to be dried in the 

 air should be brought into a heated drying-room first, through 

 which they would gain in sweetness. 



